The X continues to mark the spot as great numbers of both walleye and northern pike are being released at this remote outpost. Dawn Lake, known as a fantastic big walleye fishery isn’t letting up at all. Water temps are rising, and the walleye are sticking to their deeper haunts. Trolling secondary points with large-lipped minnow baits are producing both walleye and northern pike. 14-20′ of water seems to mark the happy place, try a classic jig and twister. Consider a topwater offering over weed beds in the morning or evening for aggressive northern pike as well.

From the guests: “Fishing was great. Caught walleye and pike on every lure and found white and yellow were the hot colors. We discovered pike really loved fly’s as they would strike at them five or six times. The biggest pike was caught on a white and yellow fly about 200 m from the cabin”.

– Bill and Laura

From the Guests:

In our group of 10 we had 8 newbies and well all I can say is that each morning all I heard was THANK YOU for inviting us to come here. The accommodations, food, service, fishing and lodge staff were ONE word: AMAZING. Beyond their expectations. Best fishing camp they had ever been too. I guess all 8 newbies were impressed.

Almost every day was so hot and sunny that we fished in shorts most of the time. Thursday was a little bit different with high winds and light rain but everyone ventured out, braved the elements and caught plenty of fish. Each day all 10 of us had enough walleye for shore lunch with a few pike for the northern fans.

When we estimated the count for 3 and 1/2 days of fishing it was around 65 pike and 600 walleye. I believe that we had (4) 26″ walleye, numerous 24 to 25″ walleye, (1) 38″ pike, (1) 36″ pike (3) 32 to 34″ pike, (4) 27 to 30″ pike and a ton of smaller ones as well. No one complained of not having enough ACTION. The lures of choice were jigs with a worm and colors that ranged from black, white, brown etc. If you weren’t catching on a color just change it and ‘wam’! The Hot and Tots or equal were working well too for both walleye and pike.

A good surprise was one of our fishermen used trolling baits and had great success. They fished the deeper parts of the lake and marked hundreds of fish each day. Additionally, they played around with some spoons that ran deep with a sinker and scored big on pike. The walleye were also biting deeper down and favored  6 to 8″ spoons. Trolling baits worked as well, but we accused them of not wanting to get their hands dirty with worms.

Makok’s water level seemed to be a bit lower than normal and the lake temperature was running around 70 to 73 degrees. To accommodate, we simply fished deeper parts of the lake. The warmer water was enjoyable however as our crew ventured out into the lake for a swim to cool off. It worked. In the evening we all met for Happy Hour before a sit-down dinner. There was always plenty of food! Evening fished landed us some great numbers, along with beautiful sunsets.

We saw moose, bald eagles, a bear-cub pair, and a small otter. Some group members even heard wolves howling at around 2 am. Sunday morning came and we all said we could have stayed longer as it was so relaxing and enjoyable. The staff could not have done more for us. WELL DONE WILDERNESS NORTH AND STAFF AT MAKOK

Hope to see you again, I know that some of our newbies are already planning for next year.

-Larry and friends

Classic mid-summer trends have begun on Miminiska Lake, with fish enjoying the cool deep water. That being said however a guest reeled in a beautiful 39.5″ pike on fly! Brook trout are fishing well, with a recent river trip seeing Dan and Mike releasing 8 fish over 20” of 12 fish caught. Walleye are hitting orange and yellow jigs with white twister tails and the pike are still attacking spoons of a variety of colours. Fish the honey hole, Beaver Island, Walleye Mine and Wottom Bay!

SPL is standing on its head hammering home its nickname as the BIG FISH FACTORY!!! On his day off SPL staff Matt caught and released a GIANT northern pike out of the Bay of Pigs on a Rapala Husky Jerk. This fish tapped out at an incredible 47.5 inches long! Congrats Matt, what a great memory to bring back to Australia with you!  New guests roll in to SPL shortly and a new report will be out soon.

Well the old saying rings true, time flies when you’re having fun! Our latest Whitewater Lodge guests have departed. Both groups in had much success on walleye and numbers of pike. Water temperatures were in the 70’s, and as always spoons for pike and jigs for walleye were the ticket.

Camp attendants Boyce and Alma ventured out for their own excitement and quickly landed a 26″ walleye on a jig and nightcrawler in 4-6 feet of water.

-Boyce and Alma